Mavericks Diving London carries hundreds of diving books for you to browse at your leisure. Whether you're looking for a memorable and informative birthday, Christmas or thank you gift, a destination guide to your next holiday location, a marine life almanac to let you identify what you are seeing, or an underwater photography manual to help you make the best of your camera underwater, we can almost certainly help. Mavericks Diving London's broad range of diving books encompasses showcase photographic essays from Michael Aw, Scuba Zoo and Constantinos Petrinos. These are lavishly illustrated coffee books to be treasured long after they have been presented, or found their way onto your own bookshelves. Our huge choice of dive travel guides include the incomparable Dive in Style by Tim Simond, an exhaustive look at the finest hotels and resorts to compliment some of the world's best diving locations - after all, if superb diving can be combined with high living, why compromise? You'll also find a comprehensive collection of dive guides from Lonely Planet, New Holland, White Star and Ultimate Sports. When it comes to identifying the marine life you are seeing, Mavericks Diving must have the largest selection of diving marine life guides in the country.

Classic Ikan/Helmut Debelius books jostle for shelf space with works by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari and Jack Randall. Naturally, when it gets to underwater photography, Mavericks Diving London, which is owned by Ocean Optics, the specialists in underwater cameras since 1976, offers the best guides to getting better underwater photographs. Learn from celebrated experts - Martin Edge's The Underwater Photographer, Michael Aw's Advanced guide to Underwater Digital Photography and Brian Skerry and Howard Hall's Successful Underwater Photography are just three top manuals from the Mavericks Diving selection.

Sharks - We're into sharks and our specially chosen library of great shark books reflects this. After all, Mavericks Diving organised London's first shark day with the London Aquarium and the Shark Trust. Tom Peschak's South Africa's Great White Shark is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand more about these fantastic animals and be wowed by Tom's exceptional portraits of these most famous of sharks.

Want more great shark photography - National Geographic photographer Doug Perrine has it nailed in Sharks. Diving with Sharks by top underwater photo journalist and explorer Jack Jackson gives you the inside track on where to encounter a wide range of species from Jack's wealth of personal experience.

This is just a very small selection from Mavericks Diving London's huge range of scuba diving books.

The Underwater Photographer, Martin Edge

Now in it's third edition, The Underwater Photographer is already a classic. Martin Edge is highly respected for his ability to fast track newbie photographers to early success and for helping experienced shooters to excel on his photographic workshops. The Underwater Photographer puts Martin's no jargon practical advice into the hands of those who haven't had the pleasure of attending one of his courses yet. Martin's students include owner of Ocean Optics and Mavericks Diving London, Steve Warren. One of our former team, Dan Beecham, was generously invited by Martin to contribute a section on digital compacts. Martin Edge is a regular speaker at our Visions in the Sea underwater photography festival and was presented with the Visions in the Sea Award for Outstanding Contributions to Underwater Photography in 2006.

Soft cover (ideal for travelling on location with you). Nearly 400 pages.

When Howard Hall wrote the first edition way back when, it was lauded as one of the best tools an underwater photographer could own. Its secret was to show a striking image and explain everything about how it was taken, including all the camera settings. Annoyingly, Successful Underwater Photography went out of print. Finally, this completely revised edition arrived. Written largely by Brian Skerry with contributions from Howard Hall, it follows Hall's original, winning concept. Great images, to be expected from Skerry, a National Geographic Magazine photographer and Hall, the multi award winning film maker renowned for his Imax epics combined with concise explanations of the creative thinking behind each shot and its technical execution.

Soft cover and approaching 150 pages.

Author Michael Aw is one of the most widely published underwater photographers in the world. With over 20,000 images in print, Michael's expertise as an underwater photographer is in no doubt. An Essential Guide to Advanced Digital Underwater Photography provides you with an easily followed, but in no way dumbed down, explanation of the techniques that will make your own underwater photography fun and rewarding. Michael is a two-time speaker at our Visions in the Sea underwater photography festival, author of some simply superlative coffee tables books, publisher of Ocean Geographic magazine (Gill McDonald, who is a key organiser of Visions in the Sea, is Michael's appointed Ocean Geographic UK correspondent) and the man behind Festival of the Sea.

Dive in Style, Tim Simmond

Sumptuous in its presentation and ambitious in its scope, this is the ultimate guide to luxurious diving. Tim Simond journeyed the world seeking out the elusive combination of excellent diving and opulent living. From the Maldive islands where your personal butler skippers your private dive boat to Francis Ford Coppolas' Turtle Inn hotel in Belize, Dive in Style takes in Australia, Polynesia, Hawaii, Tanzania and even Italy to name drop just a few destinations. Tim's book is an exhaustive guide to the very best places to relax, enjoy superlative service and escape the rat race. Well written and lavishly illustrated, Dive in Style runs to nearly 300 pages. This hardback is great for dreamily choosing your next few vacations spots.

Dive the World, Egidio Taainito

Exploring nearly sixty world class dive locations that range from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic/Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean and Red Sea, Dive the World is certainly comprehensive. Author Egido Taainito is very well travelled. Each section of the book provides guidelines to individual dive sites that Egidio recommends and features both artist's impressions of the area and superb colour photography to provide a comprehensive insight into what you can expect from your own visit. Dive the World approaches 300 pages and is hard back, so it makes a classy gift as well!

Reef, Scuba Zoo

Reef is a coffee table book with outstanding production values. The Scuba Zoo team are hugely talented professional natural history film makers and stills photographers and single minded in their dedication to the protection of the marine environment. Reef showcases some of the Scuba Zoo team's greatest images and provides a thorough guide to the behind the scenes workings of our underwater world.

The chapter titles give you the gist of what the 350 pages of Reef are about: Diversity, Survival, Predator, Arms and Armour, Deception, Schooling, Symbiosis, and Lifecycles.

A bonus is the included DVD that presents some of Scuba Zoo's finest natural history footage. Reef earned a special mention at the Antibes underwater image festival this year - a very prestigious endorsement. Reef was launched in london in 2007 September.

The latest hardback from Tom Peschak is simply superb. Tom's debut book, Currents of Contrast was a critical success and his follow up, South Africa's Great White Shark is a best seller. Wild Seas, Secret Shores proves that Tom Peschak is a rising star who has already joined the ranks of the world's elite underwater photographers. It's image after awesome image of dolphins, pilot whales, penguins, seals, jellyfish and stingrays all shot in Tom Pechak's signature up close and personal style. Wild Seas, Secret Shores begins with images and descriptions of the African shoreline and the animals that inhabit this zone before moving underwater to explore and narrate the eco systems of cold and warm seas, profile seabirds and move far out into the open sea and climaxing with Tom's close encounters. And what encounters! Tom has achieved show stopping images by working with blue, mako, tiger and white sharks, but his iconic image of a Bryde's whale is simply staggering.

A lovely gift book in a landscape style that is over 170 pages. Underwater photographers will appreciate that Tom has provided all his camera settings as well.

Ikan marine life guides are considered by many to be the definitive identifcation guides and many professional photo journalists rely on them to ensure their articles are entirely proper and correct. The force behind these guides is the inimitable Helmut Debelius. Helmut is a gifted photographer himself who recruits other experts to team up with him to lend their specialist skills to each book project. Each Ikan title is hard back for durability (it's likely to have to stand up to a lot of referencing) and A5 for transportability. Most exceed 300 pages. Full colour photography of live animals helps makes identification conclusive. Many of Ikan's titles now include brief bonus stories that tell of divers encounters with the books subjects.

Ikan guides you'll find in Mavericks Diving London's dive books section include:

• Whales and Dolphins
• Sharks and Rays
• Red Sea Reef Guide
• Indian Ocean Reef Guide
• Asia Pacific Reef Guide

Dive Like A Pro, Robert Rossier

Robert Rossier is a regular writer for Dive Training magazine. This slim line guide takes you through the tips of trade for becoming a more comfortable and safer diver. There's a lot of information in Dive Like A Pro, cleverly concealed in a style that's so succinct many seem nothing more than throw away lines. In reality there's a great deal of value to be found in Dive Like A Pro and every diver and instructor should own a copy. Soft back, 104 pages.

Scuba Equipment Care and Maintenance, Michael Farley and Charles Royer

Scuba Equipment Care and Maintenance has been reprinted nine times since 1980 and regularly updated. It's an incredibly useful guide to understanding how diving equipment works, how to make simple repairs and how to prevent needing them. Softback for easy packing and around 165 pages.

Dry Suit Diving, Steve Barsky, Dick Long and Bob Stinton

Essential reading for anyone planning to use a drysuit, Dry Suit Diving has been written by experts. Steve Barsky is an instructor, writer, underwater photographer and commercial diver. Dick Long is the founder of Diving Unlimited International and Bob Stinton leads DUI's research and development team. DUI is considered one of the finest dry suit marques and their suits are chosen by several of the Mavericks Diving NAUI instructors. DUI are also renowned for their efforts to promote safer diving.

Dry Suit Diving will guide you through the types of drysuits available and the specific applications and the pros and cons of each style. You'll learn lots about heat loss in water and how to counter it, get to understand valve options and how to make repairs. Most importantly, Dry Suit Diving will discuss the special skills you need to acquire to enjoy the benefits of diving dry. Dry suit diving is something that Mavericks Diving London's instructors will be pleased to teach you - just get in touch by phone or email. 170 pages, softback.

Solo diving is sometimes ignored by industry leaders, and many divers who haven't tried it admonish those who do it. Solo Diving is a useful guide for those who are considering diving independently and for those who prefer to buddy dive, there are useful lesson here that can be applied to make your dives safer. Von Maier offers some guidelines for diving alone and usefully canvasses views from those who often prefer it. Among those divers discussing this controversial practice are Navy SEALs, cinematographers, journalists, cave divers and, tellingly, instructors. 100 pages, soft back.

The Steve Warren (of Mavericks Diving) magazine article on solo diving appears in our Safety and Skills section.

Exploring the Lusitania, Robert Ballard

Exploring the Lusitania is Ballard's follow up to his Titanic book. The Lusitania has become a top dive on many a serious wreck diver's wish list. Ballard investigates the background to her sinking and details the salvage efforts over the years. He's a good writer and the tragedy and the intrigue easily carry the reader through the 220 pages of the hardback. Exploring the Lusitania is lavishly illustrated with both historical images and photographs from Ballard's own dives.

Diving Wrecks of the Red Sea, White Star

Diving Wrecks of the Red Sea is from the White Star publishing house and details 18 popular Red Sea wrecks from Egypt to Sudan. The key contributors are top underwater photographers and writers Kurt Amsler and Andrea Ghissotti. This ensures a high standard of accuracy and some stunning images to whet your appetite. Soft back, 137 pages.

Dive Scotland's Greatest Wrecks, Rod MacDonald

Dive Scotland's Greatest Wrecks is by the noted wreck explorer Rod MacDonald. The 200 page hardback guides you through the backstory of 14 wrecks and how to dive them at their best. Included in Rod's thorough profiles are the Akka, the Breda, the Wallachia, and the Hispania.

Bluewater Hunting and Freediving, Terry Maas

Bluewater Hunting and Freediving is the work by Terry Maas that's already become a standard. This 200 page hardback explains the techniques and equipment required of those who would venture into the open sea to hunt or film the blue wilderness. Bluewater Hunting and Freediving is superbly illustrated with some amazing photographs of offshore spearfishermen with catches of tuna and billfish that are way larger than they are.

Freedive!, Terry Maas and David Sipperley

Freedive! by Terry Maas and David Sipperley is the alternative book to Bluewater Hunting and Freediving. While the former concentrates on spearfishing, Freedive! has much more general appeal. It reviews the history of what has become modern freediving and explores the freediver's opportunities. Freedive! takes the reader through some of the techniques used in freediving activities including photography, underwater hockey, hunting and gathering and competitive breathold diving. There's an important explanation of physiology, designed to help you stay safe. Freedive! contains some great big animal underwater photography as a bonus. Hardback running to 150 pages.

The Art of Diving, Nick Hanna

Books like The Art of Diving are rare these days. It is a celebration of why we actually dive. Nick Hanna has spun a tale that truly captures the essence of scuba diving. Nick has interviewed many of the sport's leading exponents and through them has drawn out what compels them to enter and explore the sea. Anecdotes a-plenty drive the stories forward. Film makers like Howard Hall and Fabian Cousteau are in there, with celebrity divers Prince Charles and Arthur C. Clarke as well as the UK technical diving pioneer Richard Bull and freediver Marcus Greatwood. The subjects covered in The Art of Diving range from the coral reef environment, through men and sharks to the philosophies of apnea divers.

Alex Mustard shot the images that so perfectly support Nick's words. Alex is one of the world's finest underwater photographers and his images for The Art of Diving showcase the Mustard style. The Art of Diving makes a fine gift. Mavericks Diving London feels that The Art of Diving is truly inspirational and has selected it to present to each of our NAUI Scuba Diver students. We were delighted that Nick and Alex chose to hold the press launch for The Art of Diving at the Mavericks Diving London Strand showrooms.

Soft back, 270 pages. The Art of Diving has its own website with members only areas for you to enjoy as an added benefit.